Laguna Woods photographer Jennifer Brewer gets shots of aspiring model Ashley Athanas, 19, of Tustin, on a recent Thursday evening. Brewer says she meets clients at Aliso Beach in South Laguna about 3 or 4 times a month.

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Parking can be scarce and hard to come by on the steep, narrow and winding streets of South Laguna Beach---a cars makes the hairpin turn along Alta Loma Drive.

Two children play in along the water's edge at Aliso Beach as the setting sun pulls down against the horizon during the second week of August. Aliso Beach is located in South Laguna Beach. Treasure Island can be in the distance just north of the Montage Resort.

Parking is at a premium throughout South Laguna Beach's steep, narrow and winding streets---No Parking signs like this one, along Alta Loma Drive, are a common sight.

The Bechthold family of Laguna Niguel came out to Aliso Beach, making a campfire for hotdogs and s'mores with visiting family from Nebraska on a recent Thursday evening.

A discarded starfish and seashell necklace lays on a rock at Aliso Beach in South Laguna Beach---the necklace is a prop used by an on location family portrait photographer.

The view looking down 9th Street in South Laguna Beach---on typical sunny summer days this neighborhood is filled with cars as beachgoers make their way to nearby Thousand Steps Beach.

A discarded starfish and seashell necklace lays on a rock at Aliso Beach in South Laguna Beach---the necklace is a prop used by an on location family portrait photographer.

Bill Bryan

Signs like this one and others are a common sight along the streets in South Laguna Beach----with parking at premium, local residents often put up their own no parking signs---this sign can be found along Alta Loma Drive in South Laguna Beach.

Prior to the annexation by Laguna in 1987, South Laguna was its own community – characterized by beautiful beaches, historical cottages on tiny lots and the sense that everyone knew everyone.

Even though it’s part of Laguna, “SoLag” still maintains its close-knit, bohemian and beach-loving spirit.

SKIMBOARD CITY

Skimboarding, now a sport known around the world, had its start in South Laguna.

Laguna resident Tex Haines, founder of Victoria Skimboards, named his company after the beach at the end of Victoria Street that birthed the sport.

“The VIC,” also known as the World Championship of Skimboarding, is considered the top skimboarding competition in the world. People travel from around the world each year to hit the waves at Aliso Beach.

In 2012, more than 20,000 people watched the contest online.

South Laguna still is the breeding ground for top skimboarders in the world, George Bryan said.

He and his brother Bill started Tenth Street Bros, a skimboarding film company, about 20 years ago. Bill Bryan is a 14-time skimboarding world champion.

The trend started in the 1920s as a way for lifeguards to get from tower to tower, he said. Lifeguards at Victoria, who also were surfers, started messing with the board’s design – originally round – adding a point at one end for better turning.

South Laguna’s beaches are ideal for a reason, Bryan said. The “drop off” outside the shore break is sudden, creating a powerful wave that goes directly to the sand.

Theodore “the Lion King” Vlasis won first place in the Cabo Clasico skimboarding contest in May. The 20-year-old South Laguna native started his own clothing line based on his favorite beach, Tortuava. The clothes are aptly named Tortuava Rx with the tagline “prescribed happiness.” He also is in a reggae band called “Soulag Vibrations” that plays around town.

South Laguna’s beaches, such as Thousand Steps beach, have lured visitors from outside the community.

Back in the day, Hollywood was drawn to the area’s coastal charm. The 1935 film “Captain Blood,” starring Errol Flynn, was filmed at Three Arch Bay. Treasure Island beach was a filming spot for “The Long, Long Trailer,” starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, 1934’s “Treasure Island” and other movies, former Mayor Ann Christoph said.

FLORA, FAUNA, OCEAN

South Laguna’s scenic beauty is due to a couple of things: The preservation efforts of the community and the advocacy of its South Laguna Civic Association.

In the ’30s and ’40s, residents banded together to get needs such as sewer, water and paved roads through the Three Arches Improvement Association.

The South Laguna Civic Association was formed in 1946. Since its inception, the group has fought development and helped preserve open space. The association still watches out for South Laguna residents at City Hall. Its latest focus is the tunnel stabilization and sewer pipeline replacement project.

The South Laguna Community Garden Park is another example of community solidarity.

Today marks the four-year anniversary of the park, which was intended as a place for residents to plant their own vegetables but has morphed into a social hub that includes workshops for young and old, said Christoph, a garden co-founder.

The community came together to help preserve the land that is now part of the Aliso and Woods Canyon Wilderness Park, Christoph said.

The area is known for its rich habitat for plants and animals, said Derek Ostensen, Laguna Canyon Foundation president.

“South Laguna has been mapped by biologists as having some of the most important flora and fauna in the region, including some species that are unique to only Laguna in the entire world, such as the Laguna Beach Dudleya – that’s a type of succulent,” he said.

Although coastal sage scrub is increasingly rare, Southern Maritime Chaparral is even rarer and occurs only in South Laguna.

VILLAGE ‘DORMS’

South Laguna residents pride themselves on being part of a small community. The area hosts its own annual parties, such as the Halloween party on Summit Street.

It’s also easy to be close when homes practically touch each other. Back in the early 1900s, the lots were subdivided into tiny parcels in much of South Laguna. Now dubbed “the village,” the area of town that stretches from Eagle Rock Way to around 10th Street is known for its small lots – with some only 35 feet by 40 feet.

Christoph jokes that the village is like living in the “dorms.” Everyone hears when someone comes home, she said, so people come out and wave, say “hello.”

Willa Gupta, 85, lives in the home her father bought in 1931. He bought two lots for $200 each and built the home himself over the course of two years. During the summers, her family would come down from Los Angeles. There wasn’t much in South Laguna at the time, she said. Every day, she would go to the beaches with her siblings.

Being a part of “SoLag” is a source of pride for its residents – getting its name in brands, bands and on license plates – and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.